Flappy Bird creator going after clones

The creator of the addictive Flappy Bird game for smartphones is pursuing developers who have published 'clones' of the simple game.

Flappy Bird was developed by Dong Nguyen (.Gears Studio) of Vietnam, and it became a sensation due to its simplistic, and addictive gameplay on smartphones. Despite being extremely popular, Nguyen pulled the app from mobile app stores, citing its addictive nature.

By pulling the app, Nguyen created a very predictable void in which many other developers have squeezed clones and very similar games hoping to emulate its success. Nguyen is not happy about that, and had said previously that clone-peddlers would be pursued.

That appears to be happening now, with Apple contacting developers on behalf of .Gears Studio, informing them that they may be infringing on the copyright of the Vietnamese studio.

BusinessWeek details one case where a developer is defending an app from this allegation. Duck Run, developed by Todd Moore, was one of the games identified as an infringing game, but Moore has no intention of giving up his app.

"It's a duck," Moore says.

"I'm not taking it down. In no way does my game infringe on anything that was in Flappy Bird when it was available."